S A STUDENT OF MUSIC, I was frequently plagued with a sense of anxiety that the work I had set about was a disposable “extra” or nicety. It seemed to me that, while society would be crippled without farmers, physicians, construction workers, or engineers, there would be no such impact felt in the absence of musicians.1 One can survive only a short period of time without food, water, or medicine, I thought, but who knows how many years one could survive without live music! Furthermore, these thoughts were corroborated by many attitudes found in various corners of educational institutions. When universities face budgetary crises, music departments tend to be among the earliest casualties.
No Frills • In an ironic sense, my fear that the arts were disposable “extras” was spawned, in many ways, by certain trends in the fine arts themselves. The utilitarian ideologies that produced the Bauhaus and Brutalist movements have likewise engendered suspicion against any decorative elements that might adorn the raw material of the building. While this aesthetic philosophy can be understood as a reaction to some of the excesses of architecture in the preceding nineteenth century, it carried with a rejection of the “non-essential” or “decorative” elements not only in architecture, but in society writ large.
Waste Not, Want Not • It is no secret that the Church, in many quarters, was likewise plagued with tepidity toward beauty. One might indeed ask: if the Church exists for the salvation of souls, one might wonder, why spend so much money building beautiful churches and outfitting them with beautiful statuary and other furnishing? There is a temptation in our profit-driven, efficiency-driven climate to view the beautification of the liturgy as a sort of squandering or folly. From a more altruistic or noble vantagepoint, we might be tempted to view such beautification in a negative light for fear that it might lead us to neglect the poor needy. But, lest we think the pursuit of beauty in the worship of God is a waste, let us not forget the Judas Iscariot made this same accusation of Mary, sister of Lazarus, as she began to anoint Jesus’ feet with perfume: “Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages and given to the poor?” (John 12:5)
Judas’ Misreading of the Situation • At face value, Judas’ quip with Mary’s action might seem perfectly justified: think of how many people we could feed we sold that oil rather than pouring it out! Nevertheless, it is not Mary’s “frivolous” gesture the Jesus rebukes, but rather Judas’ reply. Here, Judas falls short is in his underestimation of the power and generosity of Jesus, who fed five thousand through the multiplication of loaves and fishes. It is not Jesus’ charity that is lacking, but Judas’ faith.
“Both/And” vs. “Either/Or” • There is a general tendency in Christian theology to reject the notion of “either/or” statements, but rather to favor “both/and” statements: Jesus Christ is both human and divine, God is both merciful and just, Mary is both virgin and mother, etc. Following suit, we are called both to give generously to the poor and to offer our first fruits in the right worship of Almighty God. And our God who has given us these duties will also provide us—or, has already provided us—the means to do both, for our God is a God of abundance and not of scarcity. It is our duty, as Christians to feed the poor and care for the sick, and it is no less our duty to offer God our first fruits through the act of Divine Worship.
Right Worship AND Care for the Poor • While the Corporal Works of Mercy (i.e. feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless, etc.) are a central part of our duty as Christians, the Church is by no means the only institution capable of doing such. However, when it comes to offering a foretaste of the heavenly banquet in liturgical worship, here, the Church has a unique “core competency.” While it is true that the Sacred Liturgy is, first and foremost a gift that is received from God rather than produced by man, it is important that we offer our first fruits through the act of Divine Worship, as this is the action to which we aspire for eternity. In heaven, the need for the Corporal Works of Mercy will cease, as there will no longer be any suffering to relieve. However, the spirit of charity in which these works are offered will live on in eternity through the act of Divine Worship, when we join the angelic hosts as foreseen by the prophet Isaiah: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory.” (Isaiah 6:3)
The Liturgy: A Rehearsal For Heaven • The act of liturgical worship can be understood to be a kind of “rehearsal” for eternal worship of Almighty God in heaven. For this reason, the cultivation of Sacred Music is not an “extra” or a frivolity, but something central to our mission. Though the way that it is cultivated will differ greatly on the basis of location and resources, the purpose for which it is cultivated is a common thread throughout the whole Church: namely, to make the heavenly kingdom tangible even in our earthly sojourn.
“And All These Things Will Be Given You Besides” • In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus advises the crowds to “seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” and our earthly needs “will be given to [us] also.” (Matthew 6:33) Applying this passage to the cultivation of Sacred Music, I have seen it play out in so many different settings. It is no doubt a leap of faith for any parish to invest their already thinly-spread resources in this pursuit. However, the return on this investment is often substantial. I’ve heard colleagues cite the axiom the “a good music program pays for itself.” While I am not prepared to scientifically defend this from an actuarial standpoint, I have seen it play out time and again in practice! It goes without saying that we come to Mass for the Sacrament rather than the music, but nevertheless, our encounter with the Sacrament can and should be enriched by the presence of music. In many ways, a parish’s vitality (or lack thereof) is manifested in its approach to sacred music.
Covid, Livestreams, and the Unwavering Primacy of Divine Worship • I would like to conclude with a personal testimony of how an investment in sacred music—in a very uncertain time—paid off. As the year 2019 came to a close, who could have foreseen the events that would unfold in the first quarter of 2020. I, for one, would never have anticipated that our church buildings would be closed to the public, but so it was. In our city and diocese, we were allowed to have no more the ten people present in the building for the celebration of Holy Mass. Although we were not equipped with a livestream setup prior to the pandemic, we learned “on the fly” and garnered the necessary equipment to host a livestream. While many livestreams of Masses during this period took place within the confines of a small chapel (or office) with only a priest and cameraman, we made a commitment to having an organist and four (socially distanced) singers present for each livestream. Although congregational singing was prohibited, we furnished each Mass with polyphony, Gregorian Propers, and organ music. On the other side of the building, we always had as many altar servers as legally possible and continued to use incense. In short, we did not want to skimp on the act of Divine Worship, even though the circumstances were unusual.
About a year later, when many restrictions had been lifted and people came to Mass in person again, we saw quite an influx of new faces come into our parish. When asked how they found us at Holy Cross Catholic Church, many individuals cited that the livestreams provided them a sense of beauty and reverence that had been sorely missing in their lives at this time. I remain deeply thankful for the support and shared vision of the clergy and other leadership in our parish for their commitment to keeping sacred music a central component in this trying time. If ever there were a time where one was tempted to regard sacred music as a “frivolity,” this was it. Nevertheless, it proved to be a stalwart beacon of God’s constancy amid. Though our earthly lives are wrought with ebbs and flows, peaks and troughs, we must remember that the angelic choirs never cease to exclaim: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory.”
1 I don’t need to remind the readers of this blog about how our government would later divide Americans into “essential” and “non-essential” workers.
